1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a toner cartridge for replenishing toner into an image forming apparatus and, more particularly, to a toner cartridge opening control arrangement for controlling the opening of the toner supply opening of the toner cartridge.
2. Description of the Related Art
The design of U.S. Pat. No. 6,289,193, entitled xe2x80x9cTONER SUPPLY CONTAINER AND TONER RECEIVING CONTAINER FOR RECEIVING TONER FROM SAMExe2x80x9d uses an magnetic member to urge the force applying portion from a predetermined position in the direction of removing the sealing member. The arrangement of the magnetic member is complicated, resulting in high manufacturing cost of the toner supply container.
The present invention has been accomplished to provide a toner cartridge opening control arrangement, which eliminates the aforesaid drawbacks. It is one object of the present invention to provide a toner cartridge opening control arrangement, which is simple and inexpensive to manufacture. According to one aspect of the present invention, the toner cartridge opening control arrangement is constructed to include a toner cartridge for accommodating toner, the toner cartridge having an opening for output of the toner into a toner receiving container, a removable sealing member adapted to close/open the opening of the toner cartridge, a force applying member for receiving an external pulling force to move the removable sealing member, a magnetism device for imparting an outward pressure to the force applying member, and a releasable locking device adapted to lock the force applying member. According to another aspect of the present invention, the magnetism device comprises a plurality of first magnets respectively provided at the toner cartridge, and a plurality of second magnets respectively provided at the force applying member and reversely aimed at the first magnets for producing a magnetic repulsive force to force the force applying member outwards from the cartridge toner.